


Oversight

by DeathBringer13



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathBringer13/pseuds/DeathBringer13
Summary: “IGNIS!!” Noctis was pushing him aside with panic and desperation. Gladio looked up just to see that the place where Ignis had been was gone. It seemed like the dark waters had swallowed the advisor, leaving no trace of him behind, and for the first time in that day, Gladio felt cold.





	Oversight

**Author's Note:**

> Just a random idea I had to get out of my head and my poor babies had to suffer for it! Hope you like it!

Maybe staying up late checking their budget and planning routes for all the places they needed to go was not the best idea, but someone had to do it. Noctis would forget about it, Prompto would probably take the longest route just to pass and see the chocobos, and Gladio would spend all their budget on those dreadful cup noodles he loves so much. No, the only one that could do it was him.

Ignis felt tired, he even let Noctis drive with the excuse that he had to make sure they had enough supplies for their hunt. He opened another can of Ebony and forced himself to stay awake. Prompto and Noctis were laughing about something that had happened the first time they had gone to the dungeon, with Noctis commenting how fun was to slide from one place to the other. In Ignis opinion, it was awful, one moment they were walking and the other they were falling with no way to stop themselves, and the worse part was that they usually landed in closed areas surrounded by daemons. He couldn't understand why would they think that had been any fun. 

Ignis looked back at his notes and frowned when he noticed the lack of curatives. He took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. That wasn't the first time they had gone on a hunt without any potions, but they never wander inside a dungeon without them. He had been irritated before but now his patience was leaving him faster than any chocobo could run. 

“Gladio, did you and Noct stack up on curatives last night?” He asked, knowing full well what their answer was going to be, both of them had been playing cards for hours while Prompto had fallen asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. They were the ones that were supposed to check all their items were ready for the next day. He had given Gladio the money for that so he could go and buy it while he did their laundry and prepared their dinner.

Gladio put his book down and Ignis noticed that Noctis was looking at him using the rearview mirror with some panic on his eyes. Ignis just lower his head and took a deep breath, “Did any of you thought about the possibility of any of us getting hurt?” He said as calmly as possible, but the way everyone flinched suggested otherwise.

“Iggy we-” 

“Don't bother, Gladio.” Ignis interrupted and added 'buy potions!’ with a little too much force on an empty page. He must have looked really irritated because nobody tried to add anything else to the argument. 

After half an hour Prompto and Noctis started to chat again, but in a lower volume while Gladio looked at his direction now and then while keeping his book too close to his face to actually be reading. 

Ignis tried to ignore him and went back to counting how many spices he had left and making a list of all the ingredients they were missing for their next visit to the market. His vision started to get blurry, his body wanted to rest, he keeps on catching himself with his eyes half open and shook his head to remain awake. He needed to finish with the list of ingredients for the upcoming week. He glared at his shaking hand and closed his eyes frustrated, and apparently, he had fallen asleep without noticing and woke up when he was shaken by Gladio. 

“Hey, Iggy, you sure you're up for this? You look tired,” Gladio asked him when he got out of the regalia, he had tried to act normal but the way his body refused to cooperate put Gladio on alert. He started to walk ignoring Gladio's comment and looked towards the path taking them to the cave. Prompto was already snapping pictures of the path to the waterfall while Noctis played with his phone, clearly waiting for them, at least Noctis hadn't noticed anything. 

“I am alright, thank you for your concern,” Ignis took the last two curatives and gave one to Gladio, “make sure you save this one in case of an emergency.” 

“Right,” Gladio took it and walked after Ignis, and Ignis congratulate himself for being able to avoid the talk Gladio probably wanted to give him. Both walked down the steps and made it to the cave without any trouble. 

The dungeon wasn't that hard to get lost in, but the ice and the daemons were not a good combination. They struggled a lot because they had to pay careful attention to where they placed their foot if they didn't want to fall down in the middle of the battle and risk getting injured. 

They were looking for some charms and coins someone apparently had left behind when he had encounter more daemons, and they had asked the hunters to take care of it. Ignis still couldn't process why would someone go willingly inside a frozen cave filled with daemons. People outside the wall were either too crazy or too courageous, he was still deciding on which one.

Everything was going well until Noctis decided to engage in battle with the Arachne instead of going around it. Ignis felt the little patience he had crumble when Noctis throw his weapon at the closest daemon and disappeared, he decided to take his anger on the daemons instead of shouting in frustration. He jumped into the fray with Gladio and Prompto close behind.

\----------------------------------------

Gladio could tell something was wrong the moment Ignis had fallen asleep on the car. He never did that unless he was exhausted, and even then he usually forced himself to stay awake until they reached a place to rest. He checked their supply of Ebony and wasn't surprised when he found seven cans missing, and he was sure Ignis had bought that package just yesterday. He didn't remember Ignis going to sleep, he was usually the last one to go to bed and the first one to get up every day, but he had never looked so drained before, and Gladio could bet all his cup noodles that Ignis didn't sleep at all after everyone else had gone to bed.

The way he was fighting also said a lot about his temper. First of all, he jumped into the battle after Noctis without saying anything and without any kind of plan, precise hits finished every daemon that dared to walk in his field of vision. He would usually give them orders and point out the enemies’ weaknesses, but today he was quiet and his eyes screamed murder. Even Prompto keep an eye on him when Ignis reacted poorly to an attack that even Prompto had seen coming. The Gunner looked at Gladio and pointed at Ignis with a raised eyebrow, Gladio shook his head and gave him the signal to keep an eye on the advisor. Gladio keep the prince out of trouble the best he could but Noctis saw the numbers of the enemy go down and he got confident.

Everything after that was hell. 

Noctis warped towards the Arachne and managed a hit before the daemon screamed and managed to land a hit on the prince. Both Ignis and himself rushed towards the fallen prince while Prompto keeps the daemon distracted. Ignis took the potion and gave it to Noctis, who thanked him but didn't apologize for jumping after the daemon without thinking.

Gladio joined Prompto into distracting the daemon but they never expected the Arachne to jump and use lightning against them. The ground shook with the impact making both Gladio and Prompto lose their balance, cracks appeared on the frozen floor and Gladio worried that the ice would break. Prompto landed and cried out when his wrist took all the impact making Noct and Ignis look up. 

“Darn it!” Gladio hissed when he noticed that Prompto had let go of his weapon and was holding his injured wrist against his chest. 

The daemon saw the opportunity to strike but Noctis was suddenly there keeping Prompto from sustaining another injury while Gladio had stood up and summoned his shield back. The daemon was pushed back, this time by Ignis using his lance, giving some room for Gladio to join the battle once again. 

That's when he noticed that Ignis had a little trouble on staying on his feet after he had landed. He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head as if he was confused over something, he opened his eyes but they were unfocused, his lance disappeared in a bunch of blue light, leaving him vulnerable.

“Ignis!” Noctis’ panicked cry echoed in the cave and too late Gladio realized that the daemon had recovered and shoved Ignis aside towards the wall. Ignis crash into it and Gladio hear the impact of his body against rock and after that silence. 

Ignis didn't get up and Gladio felt his panic rise when the daemon turned his whole attention on their fallen member. Gladio rushed to them but he was too far away. The daemon started to summon up his energy, clearly focusing on Ignis and Prompto shouted, raising his non-injured hand and shooting at it, trying to distract it, but the daemon didn't even flinch. 

Noctis was on the daemon in an instant, eyes filled with fury, he summoned all the royal weapons at his disposal and attacked the daemon with everything he had, and Gladio didn't even have time to see if Noctis needed any help before the daemon was dissolving, clearly no match for the royal weapons.

Noctis wasted no time into running towards Ignis the moment the daemon was gone, but he stopped when the sound of breaking ice filled the cave. The crack that had appeared on the floor grew in size and Gladio pushed Noctis out of the way when the floor under his feet started to fall. 

Prompto rushed to the side of the cave where the ice seemed more solid and managed to get to safety. The only exit was on Prompto's side but Gladio knew there was another way to get to the exit and Noct could warp if he wanted to.

“IGNIS!!” Noctis was pushing him aside with panic and desperation. Gladio looked up just to see that the place where Ignis had been was gone. He let go of Noctis for a second and the Prince was already running, not even thinking about how dangerous was to get close to the edge. 

“Noct wait up!” Gladio managed to get a hold of him and struggled to keep him from running again. Noctis was stronger than he appeared and Gladio was having some difficulties holding him down. 

“Let me go!” Noctis screamed and kick him with more force, “Ignis is down there, Gladio!” Gladio had never seen him so frightened, he had been angry and depressed for days after the Fall of Insomnia, he had raged during the day and cried in the night when he had thought nobody was looking, but he had never looked like this. 

So lost and desperate.

He couldn't afford to lose Ignis, he was his oldest friend and probably the only person left that Noctis considered family. The prince had lost his father already, he couldn't lose his brother too. 

“Calm down!” He screamed at him but Noctis wasn't even listening, he only struggled more, seeing no more options he landed a hit on the back of his neck and Noctis collapsed on his arms unconscious.

He put him down, cursing himself for not doing that earlier and losing precious seconds. He runs toward the edge and jumped down without hesitation. Cold water meets him and he opened his eyes, trying to locate Ignis. Everything around him was dark blue, and he felt himself getting colder by the second, he needed to find Ignis and fast, before he couldn't swim to safety anymore. He looked down and saw something shining, he swims towards it, praying that that was some kind of signal. His lungs were burning when he got to it. 

Ignis was still sinking really slowly, Gladio couldn't see the bottom which made him think how big this dungeon actually was and chills when he thought that any more wasted seconds and Ignis would have been a goner. 

He was unconscious, but his flashlight hadn't been damaged and stayed on even under water. Small blessings, but Gladio would gladly take it. He took Ignis arm and placed it around his neck and made his way out of the water. He was getting slower but just thinking about Noctis panicked expression and losing Ignis when he was so close to the surface gave him the extra push. 

He broke the surface with a gasp and then a series of coughs. He took Ignis and pushed him out of the water, and after that he jumped out, feeling even colder than before. 

“Is everyone okay?!” Prompto yelled from across the room. 

“Y-yeah” Gladio managed to shout back, his lungs were burning and he was starting to finally get his breath in control. “Go and find some help!” 

“Okay!” Prompto shouted and took off, not even remembering about his own injury. Gladio coughed a few times, and that made Noctis come back to his senses. Gladio wasn't even offended when he just stood up and was already all over Ignis without even asking him if he was alright.

“Gladio, he is not breathing!” 

Gladio froze and looked down at Ignis, his glasses were missing and his hair was down for the first time in years, but he was really pale and his lips were turning blue, the worse thing was that Noctis was right, he wasn't breathing. 

“Darn it!” Gladio turned Ignis face up and pushed his hands over his chest and pushed down. Counting on his head and then repeating the action, he was taught how to apply CPR but he had never thought he would really need it, now he was glad that Cor and his father had insisted, but there was a big difference in just doing some practice and drills on a doll than actually having to do it to save someone. He didn't want to do this, but he was the only one who could.

He opened Ignis mouth and blow air into him, then went back into pushing his chest. The more the seconds passed the more Gladio felt his resolve falter. They were slowly losing him and Gladio was doing everything in his power to stop it but it wasn't working. It wasn't enough.

“Ignis, please wake up!” Noctis took a hold of his face and Gladio saw the tears gathering in his eyes, “please don't leave me, I can't- I can't lose you too!” 

Gladio tried to get Ignis to breathe again but the minutes were up, and there was nothing else he could do. He had failed to protect them, he should have stocked up in potions and at least one Phoenix Down last night instead of choosing to play cards. He should have stopped Ignis when he noticed the other was barely standing, he had been exhausted, he had seen that Ignis was in no condition to fight but decided to remain quiet so that Ignis could take his own decisions. Yeah, he was smart, but when it came to his own health, Ignis would choose to sacrifice himself just to not bother them. 

Noctis noticed that Gladio had stopped and looked at him in shock, “Gladio?” He asked with such a small voice and broken expression that Gladio had to look away. Noctis mumbled a soft “no” before his eyes were filled with determination and Gladio was pushed away from the pair with more force than necessary.

Noctis placed his forehead against Ignis’s, “I'm sorry,” he whispered and rested his hand over his chest, and before Gladio could even question him lightning appeared on his palm and illuminated the whole room. Noctis was thrown back while Ignis’s body shook with the energy. 

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Noctis sat up and looked at Ignis with despair, tears staining his pale cheeks. Gladio felt his heart sank in his chest, he didn't want to lose his best friend either, he didn't know how was he supposed to keep Noctis out of trouble on his own, who was going to listen to his complains? Who was going to get them to keep going instead of moping around? Ignis was a strong pillar in their group, the one that keeps them sane and the one that always took care of them, they needed him more than he needed any of them. 

Suddenly Ignis coughed and took them away from their dark thoughts. Noctis was at his side in an instant, helping him turn around and throw up the water he had intaken.   
Gladio got closer and helped Noctis until Ignis finished. The advisor looked up at them with glassy eyes and passed out again. 

“He- he is going to be alright, right?” Now that their friend was breathing again Noctis turned to address Gladio, not even bothering to clean his tears.

“He will be once we are out of here,” Gladio managed to say, “he was inside the water for a long time.” 

“Do we have any potions left?” Asked Noctis. 

Gladio searched his pockets until he found the one Ignis had given him earlier. He concluded that drinking it instead of just crushing it on his palm would give them a better result. He lifted Ignis head up but stopped when he felt something warm running down his hand. The shield removed his hand and found it covered in blood. 

“Shit!” he cursed.

“What's wrong?” Noctis asked worriedly. 

“He is bleeding from his head, probably when that Arachne throw him against the wall, that's why he is not waking up,” Gladio explained, his chin still moving way too much, teeth chattering and making it hard for him to speak. “We need him to wake up,” He took the curative and forced Ignis to drink it. The effects were instant and the wound closed, but he was still pale, and not surprising, comatose.

“We have to get him to a hospital or something,” Noctis concluded, “I will make a way out.” 

The prince stood up and finally noticed Prompto’s absence. “Where is-”

“I told him to get help, he should be fine,” Gladio said before he could get another panic attack. Noctis relaxed a little after that but still seemed a little shaken, Gladio couldn't blame him. 

That's had been a close call. 

Noctis walked ahead and summoned one of his magic flash with the ice spell and throw it in front of him. The air turned colder and some of the water froze over again, Noctis didn't waste any more time, he summoned more and keep on throwing them around until the big crack on the iced floor almost closed up. 

Gladio couldn't even be mad at him for wasting so many spells but he knew that Noctis didn't want to risk any of them falling into the water again. 

Gladio lifted Ignis up carefully and followed Noctis, who insisted on walking in front of them to test the ice and summoning a dagger after Gladio tried to stop him, saying that if the ice broke he could just warp away.

They managed to get to the exit and walked a few minutes until Prompto saw them from his spot on top of the steps and waved at them. Gladio was still a little dizzy from all the adrenaline leaving him but he could recognize Cor anywhere. 

He felt relieved, but then it was replaced with guilt because he knew they always had to be prepared for anything, and he had ignored all his training because he had felt confident enough to go inside the dungeon because they had been there before. 

“Cor!” Noctis spoke up and rushed towards them with Gladio following him. When they got to them Gladio was glad to see that Prompto’s injury had been taken care of. 

“Get inside the car,” was Cor’s only command. He looked at them, probably looking for any other injury but neither Noct nor he could look at Cor in the eye. 

They all got inside the Regalia while Prompto explained that Monica had dropped Cor after Prompto had called him, and had gone to get a room in the hotel in Lestallum. Prompto passed them two more potions and Noctis didn't waste any time into using them on Ignis. 

Cor drove in silence while Noctis and Gladio focused their attention on Ignis. Gladio felt that if he looked away he would stop breathing, and Noctis seemed to share the same feeling and keep his hand over Ignis's. 

Monica was waiting for them at the entrance of the hotel and guide them into a room. A doctor was there already, an old man with a hunter uniform that looked more like he should be impaling a dagger on a daemon rather than healing. He looked at all of them and gave instructions to Cor to get Ignis out of his wet clothes and into a warm bath so he could get his body temperature back. Gladio gave Ignis to Cor without complaining and almost had to hold Noctis back when he tried to follow Cor into the bathroom. He went to another room to change from his wet clothes, he might have to take a shower later but not until he made sure Ignis was alright. 

After he came back the doctor gave everyone a checkup while murmuring to himself over and over again until Cor appeared again with Ignis changed into his pajamas and placed him on the bed. 

The doctor run a few tests and when he finally stops he glared at them, “This boy is beyond exhausted when was the last time he ate or sleep?” 

Noctis opened his mouth but shut it as fast, looking lost. Prompto stared at his feet and remain silent.

“He ate breakfast with us yesterday but skipped the other meals because he had gone to receive the money from a hunt we did, he stayed up setting up the routes we were going to take for the rest of the week, he finished seven cans of Ebony while doing so,” Gladio finally spoke up since he was the only one who had noticed, “I really don't remember when was the last time he actually when to sleep.” 

“He did what?!” Noctis yelled and looked at Gladio with shock. 

“Well,” the doctor continued, “his head injury seemed to have healed up and his body is reacting well against the hypothermia. He might need to rest for a few days and eat all his meals if he wants to recover soon though.” 

He turned his attention towards Cor and nobody was surprised when he asked if he could keep an eye on him. Cor agreed and the doctor left after giving Cor instructions and a phone number, telling him to call if anything else happened. 

“Care to tell me, what were all of you thinking?” Cor asked them while blocking their only exit after the doctor closed the door.

Nobody answered which made Cor raise his eyebrow.

“So nobody noticed that Scientia was practically digging his own grave? Skipping meals and not sleeping wasn't enough to raise any worries?” Cor demanded. “You almost got yourselves killed today because your strategist was running on caffeine and you forgot to stack up on potions!” 

“I didn't mean to-” Noctis started to say but he looked at Ignis and stopped. The hurt on his eyes was enough to make Gladio step forward, the Prince was probably blaming himself for everything already.

“We are all at fault here,” Gladio declared, “we should have noticed that Ignis was overworking himself and we knew the risk inside the dungeon but still went inside knowing that we weren't prepared for it.” 

“Exactly,” Cor finally moved away from the door and sat on the nearest chair, “so we are all going to wait until Scientia wakes up so I can give you all a lecture about common sense and how to keep each other on top condition, so all of you remember me when you try to do something foolish again.” 

“Never again,” Noctis said after Cor left. 

Four days had passed after their hunt, Ignis had slept for two days straight and woke up asking for food and not remembering how he got hurt. The last thing he remembered was following Noct into battle and after that everything was unclear. 

Cor had made them explain what had happened and gave them all a lecture that they would forever remember. 

All of them apologized to each other and promised to keep an eye open and speak up if they thought anyone might be acting out of character. 

Cor had stayed for another day after Ignis woke up before leaving to do whatever he did when he wasn't with them. 

“I hope we don't run into him soon, he was furious,” Gladio commented.

“No kidding,” Prompto said while helping Ignis prepare their lunch. 

“He means well,” Ignis defended. 

“Yeah, but all that talk wasn't necessary,” Noctis said while looking at all of them “we almost lost you because our bad judgment, from now on we better stack up on curatives every chance we get, and we need our strategist to be on his best condition during the fight.” Noctis looked at Ignis with a serious stare, “That's an order.”

“Not only the strategist,” Prompto laughed after seeing Ignis insulted expression. 

“I was-” Ignis started but Gladio interrupted.

“We get it, Iggy, you were just trying to do your job, but next time don't sacrifice your health for the cause,” Gladio commented.

“We need you Ignis,” Noctis spoke up again, “I need you and I don't want to see you like that again.” He looked down and with a smaller voice he added, “I can't lose you too.” 

Ignis seemed to be at lost after Noctis finished talking and Gladio remembered how lost and desperate Noctis had been when he thought Ignis was gone. He had to get stronger so he could protect not only Noctis but Ignis and Prompto as well.

Prompto smiled a little bit and added, “Yeah, we don't need a distressed prince, I would totally prefer the moody one because without Ignis you would probably do some crazy stuff, no offense dude.”

“I'm not moody!” Noctis protested, “and who said I would be doing something crazy?”

“Dude! Do you really think I didn't see you fight Gladio because he tried to stop you from jumping after Ignis?” 

The duo continued with their brawl and Gladio was grateful that Prompto had managed to change the topic from serious to playful. Ignis didn't intervene and only smiled when Noctis couldn't come up with a reply that would help him. And Gladio decided to remain quiet as well, they would learn from their mistake and just move forward like they always did, they had a job to complete after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Any thoughts?  
> Come and find me on Tumblr as deathbringer013


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